Ariela smiled calmly. "Are you two ready?"
The two rookies nodded.
Damion grinned widely. "There is the client."
Ariela looked to the client. It was a male Nidoran. "Hello. You must be Greg."
The Nidoran nodded. "Yeah. You are the team that will escort me?"
Ariela nodded. "We are from Team Aura Guardian. These two will come along and help us today. They are possible recruits and we want to find out if they are good enough for our team."
Greg twitched his ears. "So you want that some rookies protect me?"
Ariela looked to him with a serious face. "Damion and I are here as well and we wouldn't choose them to come on this job if we would think they couldn't do this."
"Thank you Ariela but I can fight for myself." The Hawlucha went up to the Nidoran. "This is not my first escort mission. I often come with bronze teams and they had harder missions than yours." He looked down to the Nidoran. "As someone who isn't strong enough to go into this dungeon yourself you shouldn't be so snotty to the ones who are strong enough."
The Nidoran flinched. "Is that your way to treat a client?"
Ariela smiled calmly. "Is that your way to treat the team that helps you?"
Greg stared at her blankly. After some seconds he sighed. "OK OK... Let's go..."
Ariela nodded. "Then let's go."
Together they went into the dungeon.

"I got this!" Hoshi stepped forward and sent a Flamethrower at the Pansage. She didn't aim at him but above him on purpose but it seemed to work since the Pansage screamed and ran away in panic.
Ariela smiled. "Well done." She looked around. "Good let's head on."
The Nidoran looked to them. "Why didn't you defeat it? Now it can attack us again..."
Hoshi smiled. "Well my Flamethrower would have killed it. We don't harm feral Pokémon if it isn't necessary. Now it will be too scared of my fire to attack us again."
Ariela nodded. "Yeah that is important to the guild. After all feral Pokémon can become civilized."
Greg rolled his eyes. "As if they ever would be really civilized."
Damion glanced to him. "I would be careful with my words if I would be you. One of our team members was a feral once and he is more civilized than you are."
Greg glanced at the Buizel.
Ariela sighed. "Just stop talking. We are here for your job and instead of insulting us you shouldbe happy that someone escorts you."
He looked down nervously.
Ariela smiled. "Now calm down already and let us do our job."
He looked to her. "OK..."
Ariela smiled calmly. "Good. Now that we all calmed down... Lucas would you be so kind and lead the way?"
The Hawlucha nodded and went ahead followed by Hoshi and then the others.
They didn't need long to find the stairs to the next floor.

Kathrin sighed. "That is all you can do? I thought you would be stronger..." She looked to the Phampy. "Brighton? Would you be so kind?"
Brighton grinned and nodded. It looked like if a lightning was sent through the room. A second later Brighton stood at the other side of the room and every feral in the room fell over unconscious.
Kathrin looked to the two rookies. "That's how it's done." She went ahead calmly. "Now let's get going..."
Brighton chuckled. "C'mon. Don't be so hard with them."
The Phampy stared at Brighton amazed. "Damn... You are fast..."
The Slowpoke on his side seemed to need a while to realize what just happened. "W-What?"
Kathrin sighed. "OK... But now show us what you two can do and don't hold us back any longer."
The two rookies nodded and together they went up the stairs.

Craw panted.
"OK. Time for a break. Good training everyone. You can take free for the rest of the day."
The others nodded and left.
Only Fletcher and Craw stayed.
Anubis smiled. "You did much better today Craw. Fletcher you should try to be less aggressive but it was good as well. But please remember that you are still recovering so don't try too hard."
Fletcher nodded. "That was good training. I am sick of sitting around all the time..."
Anubis nodded. "I can fully understand that... I once even broke nearly every bone in my body... I needed ten weeks to recover fully and had to stay in bed five full weeks. That was really horrible... But instead of overdoing it you should use your time to try out other things. Maybe you will find a hobby or two."
Fletcher nodded. "I will try that. But where should I start?"
Anubis smiled. "Well... Maybe you just take a walk through the city and explore it a bit? Maybe you see something interesting that you would like to try out yourself. Then you could make a hobby out of that."
Fletcher chirped. "Thank you for the advice. I will try that out."
Craw sighed after he drank some water from his bottle filling some into a bowl for Fletcher. "The thing that annoys me the most is that my arm is itching like hell..."
Fletcher chirped happily and drank a bit.
Anubis chuckled. "Now imagine your whole body is put in plaster cast."
Craw trembled at the thought. "God that must be horrible..."
Anubis chuckled. "Oh believe me... It was."
Craw shook his head. "I hope I won't need to feel that ever..."
Anubis nodded. "Fletcher? would you be so friendly to go ahead to the lunch? I need to talk with Craw about something."
Fletcher nodded. "OK." He just left and went to lunch.
Craw looked to Anubis. "What is it now?"
Anubis smiled. "We didn't speak a while about how you are so... How are you?"
Craw shrugged. "Mostly I am fine. I am a bit annoyed from my broken arm..." He sighed. "Otherwise I am good. The team is running great, seems like if we have hundreds of fans, Fletcher is doing better and starts understanding how it works here in civilization, Kathrin seems to feel better now thanks to Brighton and we are working on Damion's problem with feeling left out."
Anubis sighed. "Craw... I am not asking you about your team. I am asking if you are OK."
Craw looked to him and sighed again. "Yeah. I am good. Thanks to Ariela I am not frustrated about my transformation to a Pokémon anymore... Also that I died in the human world doesn't seem so bad to me anymore..."
"What is good..." Anubis sighed. "I am not speaking as guild leader now... Also I am not speaking as your friend now neither. I am speaking with you as father now... What are your plans with Ariela?"
Craw looked to him a bit surprised but also a but embarrassed. He never thought he would have to talk with Anubis about Ariela... At least not this way. "Well... I love her... I don't ever want to miss her... I actually want to spend the rest of my life with her... Don't get me wrong... I think it is a bit too early right now to marry her..."
Anubis chuckled and nodded. "Yeah... That is what she is thinking too..."
Craw blushed. "Yeah... I know... We talked about that already..."
Anubis looked to him nervous. "But... I actually don't want to know but did you two- No... I Think I don't actually want to know..."
Craw sighed. "You can calm down. We didn't do it yet."
Anubis sighed relieved. "Well... Good to hear... You have no idea how strange this all is to me to talk about this with you because of Ariela... But please remember the following: She really loves you and Even though you are who you are... If you hurt her I will make sure you will regret it."
Craw could understand that to a certain point. After all they were talking about his daughter. Craw sighed nervously and nodded. "Yeah..." He looked to the Lucario. "Anubis? You are helping me all the time and worry about me so much but who do you talk with about your problems? Are you OK? I mean is there anything that bothers you that you maybe want to talk with me about?"
Anubis chuckled. "Thank you for your worries but I have my wife Lillith to talk with."
Craw nodded. "That reminds me... I never met her. At least not that I remember."
Anubis smiled. "Do you want to meet her?"
Craw tilted his head. "Yeah... I think I want to meet her."
Anubis nodded. "We could arrange that."
Craw smiled. "How about we make a dinner then? I would like to eat together with Ariela and your family. I bet Ariela would like to meet her too."
Anubis nodded. "Yeah. But then you should plan for one more guest."
Craw looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Anubis smiled. "Well. Don't tell Ariela yet. I want it to be a surprise for her. She has a sister."

Ariela sighed and looked to the Nidoran pair. "That means the job is done."
Greg nodded. "Thank you. Here is your reward." He handed them a sack with money.
Ariela glanced into it and smiled. "All fine. I wish you two a good day then."
The two nodded and waved them before they went away a different route.
Ariela sighed and looked to the team. "By Arceus... What an annoyance client..."
Damion chuckled and nodded. "Well he was especially hard because he was such a brat..."
Ariela giggled. "Luckily there are others that aren't like him..."
Damion nodded. "Yeah."
Ariela smiled and looked to the Hawlucha and the Fennekin. "You two did pretty well."
The Hawlucha smiled calmly. "Thanks."
The Fennekin on her side seemed to be a bit exhausted and just nodded. "Thank you..."
Ariela took out some money from the bag and handed each of them one hundred Poké. "Here is your share of the job. You can go home now. We inform you in about a week for who we will decide."
Lucas the Hawlucha nodded. "Ok. Thanks. See you later."
Hoshi smiled and actually bowed down. "I feel honored to even have come this far. Thank you and I am excited to hear the results."
Ariela nodded. "See you."
Then the two teleported back to the guild using their badges.
Ariela looked to Damion. "So what do you think of them?"
He shrugged. "Well Hoshi seems nice. She really tries her best. Lucas on the other side... He didn't really talk much... I don't know... It is hard to judge him so far. He is a good fighter though."
Ariela nodded. "Yeah... But he isn't very good at teamwork... He often dashed forward not caring for what Hoshi was doing... She had to break her Flamethrower several times because he blindly ran into a fight..."
Damion nodded. "Yeah... That would be troublesome on a harder mission... But Hoshi always tried to fit her actions onto the team. Also she is strong enough to keep up with us and knows some interesting stuff about herbs."
Ariela nodded. "She is my favorite so far."
Damion nodded. "Yeah. Mine too."
She giggled. "Already having another crush?"
He blushed. "Awww c'mon... Don't be like Brighton..."
She giggled.

Kathrin sighed. "Well you are not half as bad as I thought..." She grabbed into the bag and pulled out one hundred Poké for each of them. "Here is your share."
The Phanpy panted and took the money. "Thanks..."
The Slowpoke needed some time to realize that he was meant. "Oh... Thank you..." He took the money.
Then the two left.
Brighton chuckled. "You treated them pretty rough don't you think?"
Kathrin frowned. "Really? The Phampy is weak and has no sense of direction and the Slowpoke... Well he is slow... When he starts to move the fight is already over!"
Brighton chuckled. "Not everyone can be as fast as I am."
She glanced to him. "I hope fighting is the only thing that you are fast with."
He grinned. "I have a fast tongue as well."
She grinned a bit and punched him.
"Ouch! What was that for now?" He rubbed his side.
She grinned. "You know what that was for."
Then they made their way back to the team's base.

Craw smiled and nodded. "Yeah I think so too... So from the first four only Hoshi is acceptable for the second round... "
Kathrin nodded. "Sounds good. She has at least some skills that are helpful."
Craw nodded. "OK. Then we are finished for today. We are finished early today so I would like to go shopping with all of you. Damion you will choose the jobs for tomorrow together with Fletcher. Ariela and I have a dinner with Anubis and Lillith today."
Damion nodded. "OK."
Craw smiled. "OK. Then let's go to the city."
They all took their bags and went to the city.
First they bought some items for the team together and then they strolled around a bit looking if they would find something interesting.
Craw decided that it would be good to buy some fancy clothes for the dinner and as Kathrin told him that soon would be a festival with a dance and everything Craw decided that everyone would get some fancy clothes so they would have something for that festival.
Brighton gave him some money too from his personal account and even though Craw tried to protest he had to accept that without Brighton's money they wouldn't be able to buy more than a tie or a coat for everyone.
It was especially hard to find something for Fletcher. In the end he had a bow tie and a hat. He actually liked the hat and found it was very funny.
Damion on his side had a really fancy looking tailcoat in a dark blue.
Brighton on his side decided for a yellow suit with a black bow tie.
Kathrin took a dark red dress while Ariela took a white dress with some silver ornaments.
Craw decided for a simple black suit and a cravat that looked like the ones that the post medieval humans used to wear.
Brighton grinned. "With that even my father would think you are a noble."
Craw rolled his eyes. "I just don't like bow ties... and normal ties don't fit me I think..."
Brighton shrugged. "It fits you very well."
Ariela giggled and hugged Craw. "You look wonderful."
Kathrin grinned. "You two really look like if you are going to marry."
Craw looked to Ariela and then to his suit. It was true. They really looked like if they were wearing wedding clothes. He blushed a bit but smiled. He actually liked the thought.
Ariela giggled and kissed his cheek. "That was a great idea. I really like your new suit."
Craw grinned. "And you look really beautiful in your dress."
Brighton chuckled. "Yeah but just look at Kathrin! Isn't she gorgeous?"
Kathrin blushed and punched his side. "Shut up..."
Brighton rubbed his side. "Hey... I am just saying the truth..."
Kathrin looked to Brighton with big eyes but very embarrassed.
Damion smiled. "That's true. You really look beautiful in that dress."
Kathrin looked at them embarrassed and then suddenly ran out of the shop.
Craw was confused as she ran out. He even thought he had seen tears in her eyes. What was upsetting her so much?
Brighton looked to Craw nervous. "Craw you take care of the payment." He quickly ran after Kathrin.

Kathrin was sitting under a tree and crying. "That dumbass..."
Brighton slowly went to her. "I hope you don't mean me."
Kathrin widely blushed and squeaked. "Brighton! Why did you follow me?"
Brighton smiled and sat down next to her. "I was worried about you. Do you want to tell me why you are so upset?"
She looked to him nervously. "Not really..." She looked down nervously. "I made the dress dirty..."
Brighton smiled. "That is no problem. The dress can be cleaned." He watched some clouds passing by. "I am really terrible at this..."
Kathrin looked to him confused and nervous.
He sighed. "Kathrin. I never learned how to deal with my feelings. I never learned how to express them..." He looked to her. "I know it's just three simple words but..." He took a deep breath.
Kathrin looked to him nervously. "It's not easy for me neither... Half of my childhood I lived in the streets and there you have to be tough... Especially after what happened to me... I..."
Brighton took her paw. "Kathrin... Giratina damn it... I just gonna say this now..." He took another deep breath. "Kathrin, I love you."
She widely blushed and looked to him.
He sighed and looked back to her nervously. "I hope I didn't-"
That was when Kathrin just moved her head forward and kissed him.
He widely blushed and didn't know how to react to this. Should he do something? As she finally pulled her head back he looked at her nervous. "Kathrin, I-"
She put her paw on his mouth. "Don't. Don't say anything that could ruin this now..."
He nodded. "I just wanted to say that you are wonderful."
She blushed and looked down embarrassed. "Thank you..."

Craw looked to Ariela. "Do you think they will come back soon?"
Ariela shrugged. "Why don't you use your aura to check on them?"
Craw sighed and closed his eyes concentrating. He just needed some seconds to find them. He opened his eyes and smiled. "Oh they are fine." He smiled. "But I think we should let them some privacy." Craw looked to Damion and Fletcher. "OK. You two can take care of the jobs right?"
Damion nodded. "I will make sure to pick the best ones."
Craw smiled. "I am sure you two will do it just fine."
Fletcher tilted his head. "Is that an important task?"
Craw nodded. "All jobs that we choose the next days have to be of similar difficulty while we have to make sure it is not too easy so they can show their best while too hard jobs will make it hard for the two team members that observe the rookies since they have to fight too and so they can't observe."
Fletcher looked to him. "So we will have to take care to find the right balance?"
Craw nodded.
Fletcher looked to Damion. "I will do my best."
Damion nodded. "Me too."
Craw smiled. "Good. When Brighton and Kathrin come back don't ask them about what happened OK? Just act like if nothing happened. Kathrin probably won't like to speak about it and Brighton... Well he isn't that good with feeling stuff so let them some time alone OK?"
Damion nodded.
Craw sighed. "Tomorrow we can do something together if you want."
Damion smiled calmly. "It's fine."
Craw nodded. "Maybe we can make a boys night. Just we four without the girls. Going out and stuff. Like back then."
Damion smiled. "OK."
Craw smiled. "OK. Ariela and I are going to our dinner now. Don't wait for us. Tell Brighton he should take care of the preparations for the jobs you two choose."
Fletcher nodded. "I will."
Then Craw and Ariela left.
Fletcher looked to Damion. "Are you OK?"
Damion nodded. "You talked with him didn't you?"
Fletcher tilted his head. "I hope you aren't angry. I just worried about you."
Damion sighed. "I don't know... I am happy that he tries his best but at the same time it feels like if he pities me..."
Fletcher shook his head. "He just wants to make sure you are happy as well."
Damion nodded. "I know... It feels strange still... It's complicated..."

Craw smiled.
Ariela looked at him with curiosity. "Are you sure that they will let us in?"
Craw chuckled. "The last time I was here Brighton caused a ruckus as the waiter called out to everyone that he is a prince. I bet they still remember that I was with him. Probably they will do their best to get on good terms with me so I will tell Brighton." He grinned. "Also since we are dressed up like this we will fit in just well." He took her hand. "Now let's go in. I bet Anubis is already waiting."
Ariela sighed and nodded.
They went in together and as the waiter saw Craw he quickly made his way to the Riolu. "Oh hello sir! Do you want to eat something?"
Craw grinned. "I made a reservation yesterday."
The waiter nodded. "Sure. Please follow me." He went ahead and Craw and Ariela followed him. "Will the... Will he join you two?"
Craw chuckled. "No. He has other things to do. But maybe some other day we will come here."
The waiter nodded. "Here is your table. You are the first ones."
Craw nodded and sat down.
Ariela sat down next to him. "Why are there five seats?"
Craw smiled. "That's a little surprise. You will have to wait."
Ariela sighed and nodded.
The waiter looked to them. "May I bring you something as long as you wait? Some wine or some bread?"
Craw smiled. "Some red wine please."
The waiter nodded and left.
Ariela looked to him. "You drink alcohol?"
Craw shrugged. "I actually don't know. But I used to smoke as human so... Who knows..."
She looked to him surprised. "You remembered something?"
Craw sighed and nodded. "Yeah... just more confusing things and most of it doesn't make any sense..."
Ariela nodded.
As the Waiter brought them the wine Craw took a sip. "Doesn't taste half bad..."
The waiter bowed down. "Thank you sir." He left the bottle at the table and left.
Ariela giggled. "You really know how to impress the Pokémon in here."
Craw shrugged. "You just need to talk as arrogant as possible."
She giggled.
Craw smiled. "Look. There they come."
Ariela turned around and nearly fell from her chair.
There was Anubis together with a Smeargle and a Riolu girl. They went to the table and Anubis smiled. "Hello you two."
Craw stood up and gave everyone his paw. "I am Craw."
Ariela stood up as well and was a bit confused. "I am Ariela."
Anubis just smiled.
The Smeargle nodded. "I am Lillith. I heard so much about you two already."
Anubis pushed the Riolu girl forward. "And this is Hope Melody, she is our daughter so... She is your sister Ariela."
Hope smiled embarrassed. "Hello."
Ariela looked to her speechless.
Craw smiled. "Hello there."

Ariela smiled nervously.
Hope ate a bit before continuing. "And then I just jumped over it. It was soo cool!"
Craw chuckled. Mostly because he enjoyed how Ariela seemingly couldn't handle the situation. He really enjoyed it that she, who normally was the master of the situation and the most calm Pokémon he knew, didn't seem to know how to react to the Riolu girl.
Anubis smiled. "Hope sweety. Eat a bit. I know you want to tell them more stories but you will have more time later to tell them."
She smiled and nodded. "OK dad!" She quickly continued eating.
Anubis smiled. "Sorry Ariela that we surprised you. But to tell the truth your face when you saw her and I told you who she is was just priceless." He chuckled.
Lillith smiled. "You are mean Anubis."
Hope looked to them with curiosity. "Why is daddy mean?"
Anubis smiled. "Well you see? Ariela is your sister."
Hope looked to her with bright eyes. "You are my sister?"
Ariela blushed and nodded. "Yes, but Lillith is not my mother. But Anubis is my father too."
Hope smiled. "Oh like with my friends Ken and Suzie?"
Anubis smiled and nodded. "Yeah just that they have different fathers but the same mother.
Hope giggled. "That is so great! I always wanted a sister!"
Ariela smiled still nervous. "Yeah..."
Craw chuckled.
Ariela glanced to him.
He knew he would get a punishment for it later. "If you want you can always visit and spend some time with us."
Hope smiled and nodded happily. "That's so cool!"
Ariela blushed. "Yeah."
Lillith smiled. "Ariela, I would like to know a bit more about you. I mean Anubis told me some things of course but I would like to hear some things from yourself if you are OK with that."
Ariela looked to her a bit embarrassed. "I don't know... What do you want to know?"
Craw smiled and took her hand trying to encourage her.
She blushed and looked to him. She smiled a bit and took a deep breath. "Well... I am 19 years old, I raised with my mother Grace and my step father Slyce here in the city. Before my mother died she told me about my real father but never told me who it was... We just recently realized that Anubis is my father..."
Lillith nodded. "That I know already. How about you tell me some things about your life and why you became an explorer?"
Ariela sighed. "Well... My childhood was rather... complicated... My step father didn't want me to play with other kids since he didn't want that I am around normal kids. He is one of those that thought rich Pokémon are better than other Pokémon. Thankfully my mom convinced him to let me play with some normal kids. That was when I met Kathrin. As then my mother died everything got even worse since he wanted to engage me with some nobles or something like this to get a higher social status..." She sighed. "Last year as I finally got 18 years old and as he again tried to engage me I told him I would never marry someone that I don't love and he said that I should leave his house. So I did. After some time that I spend as nurse of a doctor I decided that wanted to become an explorer like my mother. She always told me about how much fun she had back then and that she helped a lot of Pokémon... I always wanted to help others like she did and so I joined the guild."
Lillith sighed and looked to her. "That is a pretty sad story..."
Craw looked to her.
Ariela smiled and kissed Craw softly. "Well at least everything got better after that. I met Craw after all."
Anubis smiled and nodded. "Well I wish Grace would have told me... I would have helped you..."
Ariela smiled weakly. "You have your own family. I don't want to butt in..."
Anubis suddenly hugged her. "Ariela... You are my daughter. You are a part of me like you are a part of Grace. You are always welcome to come to me."
Ariela looked to him with tears in her eyes.
Lillith smiled and looked to her. "I know you must feel very confused and probably don't know what to think now but you will always be welcome."
Ariela looked to her nearly crying. "But you have Hope already."
Lillith smiled. "That doesn't matter. You are part of the family. Don't you think so too Hope?"
The Riolu giggled. "I have a big sister now!"
Lillith giggled.
Ariela on her side cried quietly letting her father hug her while Craw still held one of her hands.

Author's note: More feelings! XD I hope you like this chapter... I had some real problems with writing this one XD I don't know why but it didn't want to go as smooth as the others.